Improving your LinkedIn profile and your e-mail address

How often do you review a LinkedIn profile of a colleague or a potential business partner or new hire and you see that he/she has the following under “Websites”:

My Website
My Company
My Blog
My Portfolio

Often, right?

It would so much better project a professional image, if this section instead revealed:

The web site’s name or expertise (e.g. orchids for every occasion)
The company’s name (e.g. Sailing for Fun, Inc.)
The blog’s name (e.g. The Accidental Gardener)
The portfolio’s focus (e.g. business coaching around the world)

This is easy to accomplish (just change the name, retain the URL) and the profile owner comes across as being more professional than most. If this is a tweak you should make, do it; it will set you apart from the competition.

Sort of the same thing with e-mail addresses.

If your e-mail address is info@xyz.com, or your web site offers contact choices of info@, sales@, quotes@, etc., you may miss inquiries that could lead to sales. Business depends on personal relationships; people want to do business with people, not with characters. sam@xyz.com or suzie@xyz.com is bound to generate more interest than info@xyz.com.

Women's Equality Day

August 26 of each year is designated in the United States as Women's Equality Day.

The late Bella Savitzky Abzug, member of Congress from New York, is owed thanks for this day.

In 1971, her efforts resulted in a Joint Congressional Resolution, designating August 26 of each year as Women’s Equality Day. This, in recognition of the fact that in 1920 women in the United States had won the right to vote.

So, now we can vote.

Equality, meanwhile – it remains elusive!

I have seen proclamations from President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush; is President Obama forgetting?

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Joint Resolution of Congress, 1971Designating August 26 of each year as Women’s Equality Day

WHEREAS, the women of the United States have been treated as second-class citizens and have not been entitled the full rights and privileges, public or private, legal or institutional, which are available to male citizens of the United States; and

WHEREAS, the women of the United States have united to assure that these rights and privileges are available to all citizens equally regardless of sex; and

WHEREAS, the women of the United States have designated August 26, the anniversary date of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, as symbol of the continued fight for equal rights: and

WHEREAS, the women of United States are to be commended and supported in their organizations and activities,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that August 26th of each year is designated as Women’s Equality Day, and the President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation annually in commemoration of that day in 1920, on which the women of America were first given the right to vote, and that day in 1970, on which a nationwide demonstration for women’s rights took place.

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"WOMEN HAVE BEEN TRAINED TO SPEAK SOFTLY AND CARRY A LIPSTICK. THOSE DAYS ARE OVER!"
Bella Abzug (1920-1998)

"What Happens to HR After this Recession?"

This is the headline of a recent Jobing blog post. I encourage you to read it - whether you are an employer or an employee.

http://atlanta.jobing.com/blog_post.asp?post=21051&j=20791078&e=atlantabizwomen@bellsouth.net&l=15550011_HTML&u=241031524&mid=16004&jb=0

My contribution to the conversation is this:

Top HR executives will be well-served by the use of Social Media to find suitable recruits and learn more about those candidates they decide to interview. "Confidentiality" has often been cited as a reason for HR lagging in Social Media applications; my sense of it, however, is that this is unfamiliar territory for many and an unwillingness to learn new technology stands in the way.

What do you think? Comments are welcome!